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Fun, not FUD
Back in the day, FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) was a common marketing strategy. You cast vague aspersions on your
competitors' product and implied that only your product would make the buyers happy, safe, rich, or whatever.
There's some FUD in today's advertisements, but humor is more common in modern marketing. One campaign I enjoy is
from Travel Oregon, "the state's official
source for travel planning." While that motto sounds dull, their marketing materials are anything but.
To see — and hear — what I mean, visit the Oregon Bounty section of
the Travel Oregon site. It includes downloadable MP3s and sheet music for such songs as "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Pinot
Noir on the Wall" and "Foodies, Rejoice!" The songs' tongue-in-cheek lyrics make me giggle: "This is an invitation to
a mini vacation, a foodie celebration. Just make a reservation, get in your wagon of station, and hightail it out to
this part of the nation called Oregon."
Have you worked on projects that use humor to appeal to the target audience? If so, I'd love to hear about it.
You can email me at tstone@creativepro.com.
— Terri Stone, editor in chief
Soak Up a Brand and Be Successful
When the interactive firm Firstborn is hired to extend the brand of a product or service online,
the brand's message is already in place. So before Firstborn starts designing, they try to understand
this message in the context of the problem they're solving. This article, written by Firstborn exec
Kevin Arthur, tells you how they do that, and how you can apply the process to your own projects.
"Joe's Bar and Grill wants you to design its Web site. Your job is to figure out how that existing
business can best be represented on the Web in a way that's consistent with everything that makes up
Joe's. If you're really dedicated about immersing yourself in the Joe's Bar and Grill experience and
you've once worked as a waiter, consider working a shift or two there. Think Firstborn would never go
that far? Well, let me tell you about the time we become shoe salesmen."
http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/26019.html
Do the homepages you design meet these goals?
http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/25782.html
Photoshop How-to: Get the Lensbaby Look
You may have seen photos where part of the image is sharp and the rest is heavily blurred.
You can achieve that look with an SLR gadget called Lensbaby, or you can mimic its effect
with Sara Frances' software how-to.
"The Gaussian Blur window makes it easy to judge how much blur to apply because you see the
effect as you move the Radius slider. I like to work with a setting of 25, but it depends on
intent and the dictates of the subject. Always err on the side of more blur, since you can
easily reduce the effect by lowering the opacity of the blur layer."
http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/26018.html
More about blurring:
http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/24259.html
Control Client Expectations
Do you send PDF proofs of in-progress work to clients? Are those clients confused by the proofs'
Lorem Ipsum text and FPO images? Pariah Burke shows you how to create custom stamps in Acrobat that
not only explain those in-progress bits, but also give you opportunities to extend your own identity
in an easy yet professional-looking way.
"The possibilities for re-usable, resizable stamps in Acrobat are limited only by the extent of your
needs. Your (or your client's) logo is an excellent candidate. 'Property Of,' 'Copyright,' and 'Contact'
advisories are other possibilities. A realtor client of mine keeps her business card as a stamp in Acrobat.
When she e-mails house and condominium listings to potential clients she stamps every page with her business
card, ensuring that she and not another realtor in her office earns the buyer's account."
http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/26001.html
If your clients are the teachable sort, you may want to send them this:
http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/25747.html
Find the Great Images Inside Your Photos
Noted photographer Vincent Versace explains how to think of your images as patterns, and how to interrupt those patterns for the most effective photos.
"Patterns are shapes we tend to see in things, sometimes when they aren't really there. Patterns tend to manifest themselves as shapes.
Whether it's light coming through tree leaves, a paper bag in a subway trash can, or raindrops on a windshield, everything can form or
be perceived as a pattern. Patterns are interesting, but a pattern interrupted is more interesting. If you interrupt the pattern, you
are on the path to finding a way to using shape as the unwitting ally of color."
http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/25393.html
Artful retouching can bring out a hidden pattern:
http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/25078.html
HP DesignJet Z2100 Review
Ben Long absolutely raves about the sturdy construction of this 24" large-format printer, despite the fact that he had
to haul its 200-pound box up three flights of stairs to his testing laboratory. But does its output quality beat that from Epson and Canon rivals?
"It's the rare inkjet user who doesn't, at some point, wax conspiratorially about printer vendors reaming their customers with
ink and paper prices. Obviously, the profit for the printer vendor is in consumable sales. Therefore, it's even more amazing that
HP is essentially saying, 'You'd like to print on that non-HP paper? Here, let me help you.'"
http://www.creativepro.com/story/review/25383.html
If you're in the market for a smaller printer, read this review:
http://www.creativepro.com/story/review/25204.html
Rearview Mirror: 20-20 Hindsight
Markzware releases PasteBoard 7
http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/26004.html
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Alien Skin Software releases Exposure 2 Film Stock Simulator and Effects package
http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/26005.html
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Are you planning on updating to Leopard?
http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/26007.html
-----
Layer Comps 1.0 Plug-in for InDesign CS/CS3 now available
http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/26010.html
-----
onOne Software introduces PhotoFrame 3.1 Professional Edition
http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/26014.html
Wacky Web Site of the Week
Mad scientists at their best!
http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/23661.html
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